Like a lot of guys, I take great pride in my lawn. I like it green, flat, fertilized, and weed-free. Because I have an irrigation well, I’m able to water my lawn all summer long and keep the soil moist. But wherever you have moist soil, you have earthworms. And wherever you have earthworms, you have animals whose primary diet consists of earthworms… like moles.

Moles.

Are.

The devil.

I hate moles. I hate them with the same passion that Carl from Caddyshack hated the gopher:

Every year, I do battle with the moles. They create countless mounts of dirt in my beautiful lawn. I’ve tried three different methods of getting rid of them, with varied success. This post addresses what works well, and what works less well.

Doesn’t Work: Stomping the Mole Hills Down

The first thing that doesn’t work is just stomping down the hills, hoping it will close off their tunnels. Moles are expert diggers, and they’ll just re-dig, creating an even bigger mess.

Stomping the mole hills doesn’t work

Does Work: A Profe$$ional Mole Trapper

In the past, I’ve paid a “mole guy” to come set traps, which works great. But it’s just so darn expensive. Trapping moles can be very effective, but there’s a science to it, and it’s easy to do it wrong. You need the right traps, you need to set them properly, and you need to cover them properly. But you also need to dispose of the dead moles when you’ve trapped them, and retrieve your traps.

Traps work, but they’re work

I have a few friends who are very successful at mole trapping, but I’ve just never taken the time to learn how to do it.

Doesn’t Work: Molecat Extermination Kit

I’m bummed to report this. I had really big hopes for the Molecat Extermination Kit. I love the concept: killing the mole with the shock from a small caliber charge. Their how-to video is compelling:

I bought one from my local hardware store for just under $100, set it up exactly as shown in the video, and checked it every morning. When it didn’t work in one spot, I’d move it to a different one. After a week without it even going off once, and with new mounds appearing every day, I gave up. It’s simply not cost effective to cover more than one hole at a time, and I had at least three different sections of my lawn where moles were making new mounds every day.

Might Work: Sonic Mole Repellent Spikes

Full disclosure: I don’t have first-hand experience with sonic mole repellent spikes, but a friend of mine named Ian saw me complaining about moles on Facebook, and assures me they worked for him. He informed me that the moles came back when his batteries died, which supports his argument that they do indeed work.

The concept behind these spikes is that they emit sounds made by moles (and other burrowing animals) when predators are near, scaring moles away. The drawback is that you’ll have to replace the batteries. They do make solar-powered ones, but I’m assuming they simply charge internal batteries, and they’ll eventually need to be replaced, as well. At $20 per spike, this isn’t a cost-effective approach if you have a large lawn, but if you have a small enough lawn area, or if you’d prefer to dissuade the moles from moving in rather than killing them, this might be something to try.

Does Work: Bromethalin Mole Bait

One of my neighbors, Harvey, a master gardener, tree-farm owner, retired Washington State Trooper, and just an all-around-dude whose opinion you can trust, heard about my mole problem and offered me his solution: Talpirid bait worms. They’re a pesticide in the form of bait that looks like earthworms. You simply stick them down in the moles’ tunnels, where the moles are attracted to them, eat them, and then die inside their own tunnels within 48 hours.

Poison worms — it’s what’s for dinner!

For more details on how and why these work, and tips on using them, check out this promo video from their manufacturer:

One of the benefits of bait worms is that (unlike the Molecat Extermination Kit) it’s easy to cover multiple spots at once. Also, even if a mole eats one bait worm and dies, if another mole moves into his territory and takes over the tunnels, the uneaten bait is still there waiting for him. I also like the fact that, unlike with traps, I don’t have to touch the dead moles. I’d rather they rot inside the tunnels as a signal to other moles that I mean business. 🙂

I ordered a box from Amazon, and waited for it to arrive.

When I got the shipping notification, however, I learned was going to have to wait for at least 3 days until the Talpirid worms arrived. At the rate the moles were going, I didn’t want to wait that long. So I headed to my local hardware store (Johnson’s in Maple Valley) to see if they carried Talpirid. They they didn’t. 🙁

They did, however, carry Tomcat Mole Killer worms, so I looked on the side of the box to see the active ingredient. The box said “0.025% Bromethalin” with “99.975% inert ingredients.” I used my phone to look up the ingredients of Talpirid, and found the exact same thing: 0.025% bromethalin. I bought the Tomcat Mole Killer worms, knowing that if they worked, I’d be happy to keep the Talpirid when it showed up a few days later, since I’d want to have some stockpiled for future mole attacks.

This is a good point to pause and mention that bromethalin is a poison (duh). It’s designed to kill rodents, but it can hurt (and even kill) household pets if they eat it… or potentially if they eat a rodent that has already ingested it. Sadly, one of my neighbors (who doesn’t use pesticides in his yard) reported to me that his dog died as a result of eating a poisoned mouse. Check out the Pet Poison Helpline listing for bromethalin for more info, and if you choose to use this or any other poison, please do so responsibly, and consider the risks. And if you have pets in your back yard, keep them away from the baited areas, and remove uneaten bait after your mole problem has cleared.

Deciding the Tomcat worms were worth a try, I brought the box home and followed the instructions in the Talpirid how-to video — except that based on the advice of my master gardener friend, I pulled the worms into halves, thereby doubling the number of areas I could bait.

I wore latex gloves (moles can smell humans on anything we touch), carefully located what I believed to be active mounds, scooped away the dirt, opened a hole that I could use to insert the worm and inspect my bait later, placed the worm inside, then covered the hole with a rock (I didn’t shove the rock down in the hole, I just covered the hole to prevent sunlight from getting in). To prevent my landscapers from hitting the rocks with their mowers, and to help me remember where I put the bait, I placed landscaping flags at each bait location. In total, I used six whole worms, cut in half, to bait twelve locations in three different sections of my 90,000 square foot lawn. I went to bed, dreaming of dead moles.

The next morning, I woke up to and looked outside. No new molehills in my yard. I almost couldn’t believe it. It was miraculous — and the first time in weeks it was true! I grabbed a set of gloves and went outside to check under all the rocks. In all but two of the twelve locations, a mole had pushed dirt back up into the inspection hole against the underside of the rock. I took that as a good sign that the mole(s) had been there, and I assumed (based on the lack of new hills) that they’d taken the bait.

The following morning, there were still no new molehills. The bromethalin bait worms actually work! And I’ve found my new mole solution.

So whether you use Talpirid or Tomcat, I’m not sure it makes a difference. I’ve put my leftover worms in my garden shed, ready to spring into action the next time I see a mole hill.

For me, the solution is quick, cost-effective, and extremely satisfying that I’m helping to rid world of the “Varmint Cong” … one mole at a time.

Bottom line: If you have moles, get some Talpirid or Tomcat Mole Killer, cut the worms in half to double your coverage area, and knock ’em dead.

UPDATE: I just received an email from another neighbor of mine who read my blog post. We’ll call her “Nancy,” because… uh, well, that’s actually her name! She informed me that they’ve also been using the worms for the past few months with great success, and that they’ve been using the Motomco Killer Grubs, also cut in half. I looked up the ingredients in Motomco, and sure enough: it’s 0.025% Bromethalin.

So it appears that as long as that’s the ingredient in the mole worms, you’re good to go! I’ve also been told that smearing a bit of peanut butter on the worms (wear gloves – the moles will smell you and you shouldn’t handle a pesticide with bare hands) will make it even more enticing to them.

This makes no sense. Why use expensive and dangerous pesticides (as a neighbor, I’d have a huge problem if my dog were killed by poison a neighbor used :/, nor can I condone that because any wild animal is at danger too – even crows because they scavenge on dead animals)? When the old-fashioned way is the best way… Outdoor Cats!

We had outdoor cats and they took care of our yard + neighbors’ yards, guarded our garden from rabbits, and kept the squirrels away from the house. After we moved (and took our cats with us), the neighbors complained that the moles took over their yards and that they could no longer leave bird feeders out at night without the racoons getting into them(!) I watched the cats from time-to-time stalking areas where the moles would surface – sure enough, they would stare at the exact area where moles would exit, dart out across the pavement and disappear into the ground on the other side. It is without question in a cat’s dna to hunt rodents.

I highly recommend employing them. Typically, more than one is needed for effective mole eradication. Unless you live in Alaska, they are fully capable of living outdoors year round with some type of roofed, windproof shelter in the winter (a garage, a shed, whatever). We had some cat allergies so I can assure you, they never came in the house. But the kids loved them, and there are plenty of cats that can co-exist with dogs. They must have their claws though. I’ve seen neighbors try all sorts of things for mole eradication – things you have not listed here. Nematodes are the most environmentally friendly mole deterrent – because moles eat GRUBS. Yet nothing works nearly as well as outdoor cats, I guarantee.

That’s a good idea, Curtis… unless you live in a rural area where there are lots of coyotes. So many coyotes, in fact, that the USDA has a specialist come to your neighborhood to track the 9 aggressive pairs that live in the area. There are no more outdoor cats in our neighborhood, except for the bobcats and the cougars. 🙂

Minok1217

Problem with the cat approach is you have cats to feed and care for – that is likely way more expensive than poison or other methods, and the cats will have to dig up the beds to get to the moles. I’m trying to resolve moles in a host of small plant/shrub beds in the yard. The mounds and inversion of mulch and soil resulting in weeds in the exposed soil is my problem. Putting in other wildlife, which would be more expensive and further disturb the yard as well as kill of the birds, squirrels, occasional rabbit (all things I DO want) isn’t a viable trade off. I’ve used the sonic spikes, the previous home owner also had them, and they work to a limited extent but do the the nature of the landscaping, the beds are separated by hardscape in many places and putting 15 sonic probes in the yard gets very spendy. So I’m trying the poison approach.

Grapplingvine

Not all cats are willing to hunt and kill moles! I used to have a cat that loved to hunt (mice, moles, birds) and he kept the mole population under control. Sadly, he passed away over a year ago and the moles have taken over in spite of the fact that I have 2 new cats, my next door neighbor has 3 cats, and there are numerous other cats in the neighborhood who wander in my yard. If you hope to have a cat control your mole population, you’d better get one that is a proven mouser/hunter.

I have an outdoor cat. She kills everything but the damn moles… Bunnies, squirrels, birds.. Not the mole tearing up my new lawn.

Curtis

I should clarify – typically in the Spring, there would be an increase in mole deaths (understandably). Lest anyone accuse me of contradiction in saying “cats eradicate moles completely” and “I would watch the cats stalk mole crossways from time to time.” The effect of cats is a clear, lump-free lawn. We had woods in the back, so there were plenty of migrations into the yard and curious, suprising remains at times. Including snakes and fish. Without the cats, the neighbors lawns looked terrible. With the cats, no one ever had to do anything.

Kelly

Cats are a good idea if you don’t want anything living in your yard. I lost all of the quail, squirrels, song birds etc after we deployed the cats for “snake control”. Heavy collateral damage for getting rid of one pest. It seems targeted control would be much better than destroying all the animal life in your yard. Not to mention, your neighbors that have the bird feeders that become cat feeders.